Deafening Silence
by bouncyballparty
Summary: RufusXReno The story starts off with a quiet night with his trusted Turk, then some bitterness and resentment is resurfaced. Doesn’t sound like much, I know. Light fic. Rated M for Language


**A/N : After a battling a vicious writer's block, I finally came up with something to post. This is my first fic so I'm just going to be using this to experiment, gauge feedback and all that. So here goes.**

**RufusXReno The story starts off with a quiet night with his trusted Turk, then some bitterness and resentment is resurfaced. (Doesn't sound like much, I know.) This is light, almost to the point of nothing at all. Language**

**Disclaimer : Following events are completely fictional in every way.**

Turks were like shadows. Mysterious. Intangible. So far from touch yet always following their owner's every command. Rufus took a step; his Turks were a step behind. He turned his head; his Turks were looking in the same direction. He flicked his wrist and they beckoned to his call. They were his alone and in a moment of smug, almost childish possessiveness, he allowed himself to believe they belonged to him. Tiny toy soldiers ready to fight any miniature war he thought up.

However, they weren't toys—in fact; they were nothing close to little plastic men with their frozen battle faces, immobile in scenes of an unknown struggle until they were repositioned in another pretend war of his choice. They had souls and pasts, emotions. They felt pain deeper than flesh wounds and on very rare occasions showed the very emotions that they were so rigorously trained to suppress.

It was so easy to forget though when watching his prized Turks "in action" so to speak. They could become like machines, emotionless killers, trained assassins, violent to the point of disturbing. Rufus could hold a conversation with any of them with the same amount of ease as they could snap a man's neck. There was hardly a moment when the thought of how effortlessly they could betray him hadn't crossed his mind. It was in every movement they made, even the casual ones. Like the one his second-in-command had just made. He had only glided his fingertips rhythmically over the President's desktop but, like always, the blond became more aware of his presence in the dimly lit office. As if he had purposely announced it with that harmless little habit of his. A warning of how completely dangerous he could be.

The redhead's eyes watched nothing in particular, periodically glancing over the items on the desk. He didn't seem to have a reason to be there. At his employer's office at nearly midnight. He asked for a drink even as he was already pouring it, making the inquiry useless. He placed a glass before the blond and poured him one as well, filling it nearly to the rim. Rufus raised an eyebrow quizzically but failed to say anything as to why he felt the need to pour so much. Why the man did half the things he did on a daily basis never ceased to confuse him.

Like why he seemed so hell-bent on befriending a man that was seen as cold and unapproachable to his colleagues and a ruthless monster to the public. It was something he had just learned earlier that day, in fact. Reno actually considered him his friend. It would certainly explain why he hung around so much during the day and even the odd hours of the night for no reason at all. Apparently, the Turk enjoyed his company.

"Ya work too hard, Sir." The redhead declared abruptly as if the thought had just popped into his head. He gazed outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, absently licking the corner of his mouth. The city lights cast a shimmering glow over Edge and from the 75th floor it looked as if they were floating above billions of stars, in some unknown point past outer space. "Ya ever think 'bout takin' some time off?"

"Can't say that I have." Rufus muttered, concentrating on a budget system he was working the last kinks out of. Sure, there were tons of employees who could take care of this kind of work but the blond felt more comfortable doing it himself. He couldn't trust a whole lot of people right now, especially since he had recently come back into the eye of the public. "You're not on duty right now, Reno. You can call me Rufus." He added, scribbling a few quick notes on the spreadsheet off to the side of his desk, turning back to his computer screen.

"Ya know, like a vacation?" Reno continued as if he hadn't heard anything he said. He finished his drink and crossed the room back to the front of his boss' desk. The fact that the blond had become unnecessarily wary of his hand as he rested it, palm flat, on the edge of the large wooden surface had not gone unnoticed. He silently wondered if he was just being anal about fingerprints.

Rufus stared at the Turk's hand a second longer than required, through his caution, admiring his long pale fingers that seemed remarkably normal looking despite their capabilities. They seemed like they should have talons rather than nails that the redhead kept cut short to keep out of the way. Thin and deadly much like the man himself. The ShinRa President had once watched those powerful hands drown a man, those long fingers clutched tightly in his hair.

Inexplicably, that had always been his most vivid memory of the Turk. A voyeuristic moment of the redhead in his natural habitat. While on a mission or under orders, Reno was more serious than he had ever been, despite his sometimes playful demeanor. He was a killer. That's the only possible explanation.

"This company wouldn't last half a day without me." Rufus answered, breaking himself from his thoughts to recall his former question. Reno was obviously dissatisfied with his response, scowling quietly as he picked up the drink that he poured earlier, noticing that the blond hadn't even touched it. He brought it to his lips and drunk as he drifted around the desk, standing ominously behind the high-backed chair. Rufus only tensed for a second, but he knew that the Turk picked up on it—like blood to a hungry wolf, he grew rigid by instinct. Like his shadow.

Reno scoffed, setting his glass down on Rufus' desk, right in the middle of his spreadsheets. The blond shot him an annoyed glance and moved it to the other side of his computer.

"I put in my vacation time." The redhead told him, folding his arms over the back of the blond's chair. Rufus only nodded distractedly, glancing over all the notes he made. So far all the numbers were adding up but he still had a problem with—

While his thoughts were preoccupied, warmth covered the President's hand, those long white fingers curled around it firmly. Offhandedly, Rufus imagined him snapping his wrist with little effort as he knew that he could. Of course, he also knew that the Turk would have no plausible reason to do that, but the unconscious thought of danger always lingered around the volatile man.

"Not now, Reno." Rufus wrenched his hand free, turning back to his work. It was a little past one AM and he needed this done by eight the very same morning. He hardly had time to mess around with his subordinate.

Reno persisted; his oddly ordinary, deadly fingers clasping the younger man's throat from behind. His grip was non-threateningly loose but the gesture might as well have been. A ploy for attention. Rufus knew this, which is exactly why he chose to ignore it. He couldn't have made a very good master to his dogs if he let them intimidate him so easily. Besides, he had this particular Turk wrapped so tightly around his finger that he could practically read his mind. And what he was thinking now was barely anything at all. Remnants of lust and love and little bits of shredded emotions that meant nothing to anyone.

"Are you done?" Rufus asked airily, typing in a different formula into his already complicated budget system. The numbers changed this time and the blond read over them, patiently waiting to see if the Turk was ever going to respond. Not that he actually cared, but his hand wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing to have around his neck, feeling his even pulse.

The heat of his hand shifted a little but had not disappeared. His thumb caressed the jugular vein, adding a minute pressure that made Rufus' head feeling heavy. Then a second heat replaced the first one, this one hotter and not as easy to disregard. Rufus preferred that the redhead would choke the hell out him. This affectionate side of him was more treacherous than any kind harm he could cause.

Fed up, the blond ceased his typing, gracing the clingy creature with his agitated and very much divided attention. "What?" He snapped though somehow still managing to sound as if he had an inch of patience for his so-called 'friend'. Reno kissed his neck once more, his eyelids lowered in an aggravating type of satisfaction. Rufus cursed himself for caving. Now the insubordinate redhead seemed to believe he had won something.

"Come with me." He muttered, a little smile turning the smoothness of his lips, one that the blond refused to acknowledge.

"Where?" Rufus demanded, immediately regretting it. He was not going to participate in this game of his. Not today. Not ever. It didn't fucking matter where.

"Does it matter?" The Turk answered fluidly, taking the words out of Rufus' head and turning them around. He hadn't even said them yet. Attempting to get back on the offensive side of the conversation, the blond scoffed nastily, returning to his work.

"Why would I want to go anywhere with you, Reno?" Rufus shook his head, beginning to feel his weeks of late night working taking a toll on his sanity. He really didn't have time for this. This budget may not have sounded too important but it was the basis for the company's money-spending for the next 20 years and that was much too crucial to be pushed aside for a love sick Turk and his deluded wiles.

"So ya refuse?" Reno asked needlessly, receiving another annoyed scoff at his words. The blond began typing a little harder than necessary, hoping to overwhelm the sound of his voice with the obnoxious noise. Better yet, frustrate him into leaving. But the Turk was stubborn, much like his employer, and hadn't even bothered to have the decency to look disturbed by the sound.

Rufus thought of finally asking him what the hell he hoped to get out this exchange—if the blond had decided to go with him, but he was sure the man would find some kind of victory out of that too. He couldn't show any form of curiosity.

"Alright. Fine." The red-haired shrugged dramatically, making a show out of digging in his pocket for whatever; Rufus didn't care to look. The Turk dropped a few items on the edge of the desk and crossed to the other side of the room, removing his jacket in front of the white leather sofa and casually stretching out on the long couch as if he had been invited to stay.

Rufus pursed his lips, knowing without knowing that the Turk obviously wasn't set on leaving him anytime soon. At least he was over there and not standing behind his chair anymore. He chanced a glimpse at the collection of junk the redhead had left on his desk. Car keys, a lighter, his wallet. He just emptied his pockets as if the President's office were his apartment. Rufus clenched his jaw and thought about throwing the shit on the floor at the risk of seeming like a kindergartener. But a long glance at the resting Turk changed his mind.

As much as the redhead annoyed him with his distorted displays of affection, Rufus couldn't exactly say that he's had that many friends in his lifetime. Or any, for that matter. And there wasn't a large amount of people who could put a hand around his neck and not lose their fingers as the result. If he had trusted Reno that much, the there was probably a good chance that he had the Turk's trust as well. That wasn't an easy thing to come by.

"Have you decided where to go?" Rufus asked the still air, not really sure if the Turk was even still awake or not.

"Hm?" Reno grunted, prying open his eyes a fraction of an inch to look at him. The blond pretended to be completely uninterested, failing at subtlety. The older man yawned and rolled over, facing the back of the couch. Rufus glanced at his back, frowning at his lack of response.

"For your vacation, I mean." He insisted agitated at himself that he suddenly wouldn't let it go when he blatantly didn't care before. The redhead shrugged almost unnoticeably, his back tightening and relaxing again.

"I haven't thought of it yet." He yawned again, shifting into a more comfortable position on the sofa. "Somewhere warm, I guess." Reno was still for a second, turning his head slightly. "Like your bed."

Rufus blanched at the candid response, his hands stilling above his keyboard. There wasn't much he could say to something like that. A bad pick-up line or horrible segue, he couldn't decide which, but it left him speechless. "Reno--."

"Ya don't hafta say anything." Reno assured him, turning back over so the blond couldn't see his face anymore. "I ain't so pathetic that I need your pity." He laughed into the cushion, his voice dark and humorless. "A fuck from ya now would only be insulting."

Rufus frowned heedlessly wondering how they had so quickly gone from a simple innocent conversation to fucking. "What the hell are you talking about?" He demanded, done with his cryptic talk about fucking and pity and vacationing together. To hell with the budget system.

"What tha hell do ya think I'm talking about?" The redhead muttered into the couch, his voice almost muffled by the upholstery. "You're so damn smart, you figure it out." The blond rolled his eyes at his childish behavior, fighting the urge to rise from his chair. It was hardly worth it, since he only wanted to put more distance between him and the Turk. As for why he was acting this way was a mystery—at least to Rufus it was. Far as he knew, he had never done anything that deserved this cold little attitude. Not recently, anyway. And that was so long ago…

"Ya never showed up." Reno mumbled indignantly, reminding Rufus of that trivial incident that occurred nearly 5 months ago. He couldn't be serious. But the blond didn't voice that part of his thoughts. It was pointless to argue about something so small, especially when the outcome of that incident was under conditions he couldn't control.

"You're not still dwelling on that, are you?" Rufus let himself enjoy that tiny pang of misery that for some twisted reason made the situation humorous. "You're acting like a girl." The blond pointed out with no regard for the Turk's feelings. A girl that had been stood up for a deluded figment of a date and was still holding a grudge over it. At that, the redhead finally looked back at him, his eyebrow raised, resentful and put out. Not quite angry enough to get his lazy ass off the couch, Rufus noticed. How typical.

"I'm in the middle of something, Reno, so if you'd prefer to talk about this later—"

"I don't." The redhead declared, finally getting to his feet, sparking a frail hope inside the President that he would at last leave him to his work. He didn't know how much more of this he could handle without throwing something at him.

Rufus brushed off his words, turning back to his computer at the first inclination of peace and quiet. There was a brief silence where even the air was still and the blond glanced back at the couch to see if the Turk had simply laid down again and gone to sleep. But he wasn't anywhere, which only meant that he was behind him, a realization that threw the ShinRa's senses into a frenzy all in one disorienting moment. He hadn't even heard the man move.

His chair twisted around violently, jarring the delicate items on his desk with the force of the back slamming into it. An almost inaudible metallic sound caught his attention and before he was fully aware of what he was doing himself, his shotgun was in his hand, pressed threateningly into the Turk's windpipe. The blade from the redhead's Mag-rod was fully extended, the needle-thin edge just underneath his chin. In a detached moment of observation, as if he were only a spectator to this demonstration of a power-struggle, Rufus realized that if either one of them were to attack, they'd probably both end up killing the other.

Rufus' heart beat fiercely, unwilling to let his guard down, not while those turbulent eyes burned straight back into his. It didn't look like either of them where going to give, especially not with the level of distrust that had formed almost tangibly between them.

"Reno." The blond spoke firmly, attempting to relay that he was still his boss, without actually having to say the words. The redhead only sneered with obvious animosity, pressing the blade harder into his throat. Whether he was intending to hurt the President or not, he couldn't tell. For now, he would just assume this was one of his frequent fits of rage and decided to wait it out rather than risk provoking him. Rufus really didn't want to have to kill his own Turk, especially not one that he respected so deeply.

It takes a series of long minutes before Reno regains himself, even longer for him to remove the blade from his employer's neck. Rufus put away his own weapon at the same time, studying his subordinate for a extensive amount of time before he allowed himself to relax even a fraction of his tensed muscle. He was in control again.

The ShinRa Corp. President didn't even bother to ask him what the fuck he was thinking; he simply told him that he could leave, pretending that he was giving him an option when they both knew he was telling him to get the hell out before he decided that he wasn't going to be so lenient.

There was an apology waiting just behind the Turk's teeth but he never got to release it; the blond was so far from listening to him at that point, he might've as well have been in a different country, whispering it to him.

Reno said nothing more, staring at the younger man for a few undeserved seconds, his eyes guiltily drawn to a hair-thin cut on the blond's fair skin. There wasn't much he could do to atone for his actions, and definitely not right now, not when Rufus was feigning interest in the many documents on his desk, silently willing him away.

"The mountains." The redhead had just turned to leave, nearly touching the doorknob when the blond spoke without any obligation to do so.

"Hm?" Reno hummed, staring at the man's forehead, trying a little too hard to establish eye contact, but Rufus never looked up from his work.

"It's remote. Private." He explained, yet still not really revealing what he was saying. His delicate fingers wrapped around the glass Reno drank from earlier, swirling the last few tablespoons of alcohol around in it. "The mountains." He fluidly drunk what was left, offhandedly wondering if he could taste where the redhead's mouth had been before. The blond watched his Turk cock his head to the side, misunderstanding what he was trying to say, once again, without really saying it. "That's where I would go."

Reno nodded without knowing what he was agreeing with, turning the doorknob in preparation to leave. Rufus would never admit it, but he found the unprovoked hostile behavior of the Turk's oddly intriguing, the way he seemed to break and mend himself all in the same moment. He had been well trained to hide his emotions, but the blond was very aware that Reno lacked some of the extensive control that his colleagues possessed. He was dangerous and unprecedented and the President found that exciting. In fact, he was more interested in the qualities he found in the redhead than in any other partners he's had in the past.

Rufus glanced at the contents of Reno's pockets that he had dropped on the desk earlier, realizing that, in his confusion, he forgot them there. He opened his top drawer and swept the commonplace items inside and locked it. He'd return them later. Perhaps on their vacation next week.

**A/N : Wow. Done. I'm almost ashamed to say that took me a whole week to write. Anyways, I hope someone enjoys it. I'm really anxious for some feedback, so if you have a few minutes… **

**(Personally I have some mixed feelings about this myself)**


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